A Young Woman to Watch

Earlier this year, we published our list of Young Women to Watch — promising female entrepreneurs under age 35 who are shaking up traditional industries and seem destined for success.

We were impressed by Elizabeth Rees of Chasing Paper, who is pursing an alternate spin on her family’s 88-year-old printing business by selling her own line of removable wallpaper. Her target customers: Young apartment dwellers who want to customize their space, but are prohibited by landlords or budgets from painting or wallpapering. (Rees is a lot like her customers…we shot this video in her West Village studio where she runs the business.)

In our estimation, Rees’ chances of succeeding are high. She is lucky enough to have low overhead and a manufacturing facility (her family’s Kubin-Nicholson plant in Milwaukee). Her entrepreneurial father is a chief advisor. And when it comes to female role models, she’s got a pretty darn good one: Her 86-year-old grandmother, the matriarch of the family business who still signs the checks and walks the floor at Kubin-Nicholson.